Fate's Walk
by Purplerandomthoughts
Summary: Ok I'm at it again MarkOC DON'T HATE but plzzz review
1. Chapter 1

Mark sat quietly in the corner, working on his film. It was around ten on a mid September night and it was utterly silent, aside from the sounds of the film editing machine.

After the fateful Christmas where Mimi had almost died, Collins moved back in, not needing a job because of the ATM in the mall.

The following fall, true to her New Years resolution, Mimi started going back to school. The school wasn't too far, but far enough to cause her to get a dorm. She still visited at least one weekend a month.

However, between those visits, Roger slumped back into withdrawl and depression. He was always snapping at everyone and glaring. He hardly snapped at Mark but the fustration was easily picked up and Mark would immediatly back off.

Tonight, Collins had finally succeeded in persuading Roger to leave the loft. Even though Collins told Roger that they were just going to get a few groceries, he confided in Mark that he wasn't sure of the destination but not to wait up.

As he reviewed the tape,_ an elderly couple walking through the park, hand in hand; a dirty, old, homeless women smiling; a young girl bending over to peck a young boy on the cheek; _he wondered what exactly it was that he was recording for.He wasn't working on anything specific. Not like the documentaries or short films that he actually had had a goal for. No, these were just recordings. Aimless, pointless, but beautiful none the less.

Since he started working for _Buzzline_, he had been making enough money to keep up with the rent and the bills. Collins took care of the groceries and the little extras. Little extras like being able to eat at the Life Cafe at least once a month (usually the weekend Mimi was here), and they had saved up enough money to get a decent T.V., a little DVD player, and a few DVD's. A year ago, this would have been a luxury that they would've killed for.

As soon as he finished, about an hour after Collins and Roger left, he had put on a movie. About a half-hour later, the loft door was flung open and in stormed Roger and Collins. Mark, who had fallen asleep about five minutes in, flew off the couch and landed on all-fours. Living in a neighborhood like this gave you instincts like that.

"I can_not_ believe you!" yelled a very angry Roger.

"What?!" Collins questioned, equally as loud, "Are you mad that I though that it's unhealthy that you spend 24/7 in this loft?!"

"Guys, what's going on?" Mark questioned tiredly and annoyed that his sleep was disturbed. He was still on his knees, eyes closed and wiping the drool of his cheek.

"He dragged me to a club. A _club_!" Roger turned back to glare at Collins, "I was inforrmed that we were going to get groceries!"

"Well, pardon me if I thought you needed more social interaction than me and Mark!" Collins returned the glare.

"I talk to other people!"

"Like who?"

"Guys."

"Mimi for one!"

"Oh that's so much more! Especially since she only visits ONCE A MONTH!"

"Guys."

"And what about you?!"

"What about me?"

"Guys!" Mark sighed. He hated it when they got like this. It happens once or twice a month. They would fight until one of them storms off to a door, whether it be to a room or the one to leave. They'd stop talking for two days and then somehow, without Mark noticing, make up. And, in all honesty, he was getting really tired of this.

Tonight was a little worse then usual, normaly Mark could get a word or two in. He felt he should bow out gracefully and let them settle it on their own. He grabbed his coat and scarf and hurried out the door. Only a few blocks down, a similar event was taking place

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" the speaker was a medium height brunette with blonde highlites, scuttling around, getting ready to go out.

"Yes, Kailey, I'm sure." the second speaker was sitting on the couch, thoroughly annoyed, as this was the sixth time she was asked.

"Come on Katie, you never go out with us!" the third voice, belonging to Jess,

floated through the bathroom door.

"I bet you don't even have a good reason for not going out with us." Kailey said, preoccupied with her necklace.

"Your right," Katie replied with false defeat, "I've got two. One, you know I hate clubs. Two, every time we go out, you both find guys and I feel like the third-er, fifth wheel."

"Well, if your sure," Jess said, stepping out of the bathroom. She was about an inch taller than Kailey with blonde hair. They were both dressed in semi-short skirts and tank tops, even though the weather was far too cold for that.

Katie was taller than both of them, with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. She was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a blue zip-up sweater over a white spagetti-strap.

"Anyways, I need to finish my article." said Katie standing up. She was a journalist for a newspaper. She started walking towards her room. Her room was the smallest and it suited her quite well. In her room there was a single bed, a simple dresser and a desk. Her room also connected to the only bathroom. Both Kailey and Jess shared a huge room because they have more stuff and because they both snore.

"Okay, we'll probably be back around two or three, so don't wait up." Jess said searching through her purse.

"We might not be alone, so. . ." Kailey added on a flirty note. Katie just stared at them with the 'how did I end up with you two?' look.

"Okay, I think I'm just gonna finish up my article, take a bath, and goto bed."

"You are such an old-fart!" Jess replied in mock disgust.

"Uhh number one, I'm younger than both of you by like three months. Number two, I get barely any sleep so I'll catch Z's whenever I can. Now if you don't leave, I'm going to kick you out."

"Alright, alright. See you in the morning." Kailey said through a closing door. Katie sighed. She's been friends with those two ever since middle school, since third grade for Jess, and she loved them, but everyone needs thier alone time.

About an hour and a half after they had left, the article was finished and ready to type when she got back to work (they didn't have enough money to buy a computer). The bath water was running and music was blaring from a small boombox in the far corner of the bathroom. She didn't like anyone knowing it, but every now and then she took one of those long, hot, bubble bathes. Aroma salts, bath milk, the whole nine yards. The tub quickly filled and she got in.

Around twelve, the phone, which was barely audible over the music, rang. Katie sighed, paused the music and answered.

"Hello?"

"Katie, we need a favor."

"What?"

"Well we met these really hot guys and we kinda wanted to bring them back to our place and we were wondering if you could..."

"No. You two are just going to have to deal because I am not leaving just so you two can--"

"If you don't, then you'll just have to listen to us with our really hot guys." Katie immediatly caught the hint and growled something like 'I hate you' and sighed.

"Just give me another half-hour to finish washing my hair and get dressed and get as far away from here as possible."

"We absolutely owe you one and we love you."

"You owe me multiple. Just take your time getting here."

She quickly finished her hair and erased any evidence of a bubble bath. Then, she change into her old clothes, thinking 'Who could I possibly run into at midnight in the middle of September?'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK!!!

First chappie done!

I'm in the middle of the second and I know its kinda vague concerning Katie but it gets more detailed in the upcoming chapters

Plzzzz review I'm kinda insecure about this :-\


	2. Chapter 2

The cold hit Katie like a whip. Today it wasn't that cold. In fact Katie was going to go on a walk in the park earlier, but that's when Jess and Kailey started to bug her about going out with them. Then she silently laughed at her self. She remembered in high school how everyone, including teachers, were completely at awe at how these three bonded. Especially how Katie, who was absolutly nothing like a prep, had stayed with Jess and Kailey, who were the exact definition of prep, through all of her school carreer. It was probably because of the bonding done in elementary and middle school.

_Damn! I should've grabbed another sweater!_ She thought as she tied her wet hair back and stuffed her hands into the sweater pockets. _Where am I going? Uhh, I could to the...No wait they closed that down a week ago...Uhh, how 'bout the Life? Yeah, the Life is close and warm._ The Life cafe was located only a couple of blocks down so it would only take a few minutes to walk there. However, a few minutes in this cold was too much for Katie, so she started jogging. Pretty soon the jogging turned into running at full speed.

Just as she came up to the corner and the Life came into view, _WHAM_, she ran into someone. Not just ran into, but in fact tripped into and ended up on top of someone.

Mark's P.O.V.

It had to be around 40 degrees, which is cold for a September night. If Mark wasn't used to the months before New York Cities winter, he would have stayed and listened to the fight. _The fight._ Those two have gotten into more fights then usual lately. And it was all over little things, like Roger playing his gutar too loud, or Collins reading too much. Even things like Mark not having a girlfriend since Maureen. That one was the most interesting fight Mark had witnessed. Collins and him went to eat and a new cafe, and apparently a waitress had been flirting with him. Since Mark hadn't caught it, he had gone home, number-less, and Collins made fun of him until they got home. Then when Roger heard a snide comment come from Collins, he loyaly stood up for Mark. That started a yelling match louder than a train wreck.

Honestly, they didn't fight like this before Collins went to MIT. Of course, that was before April had committed suicide and Maureen had broken up with Mark. Then the withdrawls. The withdrawls were horrible. Roger was impossible to control. He had a temper and he knew how to use it; Mark had the scars to prove it. But it all worked out in the end...sorta. Angel had died...the one responsible for "Today 4 U". She had taught all of them something about love. Plus, Mark had never seen Collins more happy with any of his 'significant others'.

He had to figure out where he was headed. The closest and only place that would let him in at this time of the night would have to be The Life. The cold was finally penetrating his jacket and scarf, so he decided to jog rather than walk. Just as he was rounding the corner, he was thrown off balance and landed on his side. Actualy, someone landed on him as well. The person quickly scurried off of him and started

"Oh, shoot. I'm sooooo sorry." she said as she climbed off of him. A him with a darkish blonde head and seemed to be groping around for something. Her eyes were searching the crash site for whatever it is this him could be looking for. Her eyes glanced at something shining in the light of the cruddy lamp they were under. She picked it up and it turned out to be a pair of dirty glasses. She quickly cleaned them on her sweater as well as she could.

"Uhh, here. Again I'm sooo sorry. I haven't ran into anyone since, well since yesterday, but thats different, and I'm going to stop talking now." she finished seeing the quizical look on his face, "Yeah, I'm kind of a spaz."

What he saw was a tall girl, probably a few years younger then him. She had brown hair pulled back into a loose bun and a face covered in freckles. Her eyes were a simple brown and she seemed fidgety. She was smiling nervously.

"That's okay," he grunted as she pulled him up, "I'm Mark Cohen." he said, not letting go of her hand to shake it.

"Uhh, Katie. Katie Snow. Yeah, you can imagine the ridicule in elementary school."

"Like what?"

''Eski-snow, Snow ball, the list goes on." They noticed thier hands were still clasped and quickly pulled them apart. She was usually brimming with self-confidence, so this sudden rush of insecurity was not pleasing.

"So, uhh, where are you going at this time of night?" Mark said fidgeting with his hand.

"Uhh, I was heading to the Life Cafe," she said, pointing her thumb to the building behind her, "I kinda got kicked out of my place." she finished with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Me too, actually." he paused, unsure of the next part, "You maybe wanna go in together?"

"Okay."

Okay I know this one is really short but the next one is supposed to be really long so it kinda evens out

P.S. I'm using word pad so I don't have spell check or anything so if you see an errors that I missed please message me about them and I'll fix them ASAP ;-)


	3. Chapter 3

As they entered the Life, they both let out a sigh of relief to be out of the cold. It was more crouded then it should be at midnight. There was a teenage couple, unable to control thier hormones; there was also a large group of people in thier late thirties at the bar, singing drunkedly to an ancient song blairing from the radio. There were also a few people spread here and there, reading or drinking.

Both Katie and Mark seemed to have a reason to keep out of site of the host.

"And where do you two think your going?" questioned the host upon seeing thier failed attempted of sneeking past him.

"We were hoping to get a seat." Mark answered guiltily.

"I'm sorry, but were full tonight." said the host as he motioned towards the half-empty cafe.

"Awww, come on, Teddy. Thats B.S."

"Your name is _Teddy_?" blurted out Mark. No matter how much trouble this man caused him, he realized, he had never bothered to find out his name.

"It's _Theodore_, and I'm sorry Katie, but there's just nothing I can do about it."

"Thats bull Teddy, just let us sit at that table." Katie motioned to a small table in the corner.

"Wait, you two are here _together_?" Teddy said, looking Mark up and down disapprovingly, as he had done numerous times before.

"Yes, now just let us sit over there."

"Fine." Keeping a weary eye on Mark, Teddy walked them over to the corner table.

"How do you know him?" Mark questioned as soon as he had walked away.

"I don't know. We're, like, extremely distant cousins or something." Katie said, sitting back.

"So," Mark started, remembering that he had invited a total stranger to sit with him, "do you come here often?"

"Not as much as I'd like, but enough. What about you?" Katie asked, watching him keenly.

"At least once a month. I only live a few blocks down." Mark answered, pointing in the general direction of the loft. _The loft_... had either of them noticed he's gone? What would they do once they noticed that he's not thier to pull them apart when he failed at keeping them from fist-fighting?

Katie seemed to be able to read his mind, as her next question was about how he had gotten kicked out of his own place.

"Well, my roomies started to fight. Normaly I try to keep them from killing each other, but I figured they could work it out themselves. Plus, I was starting to get a headache." He answered sheepishly. "What about you?"

"Ah," she said, leaning forward with an embarrassed smile, "Well, my friends went to a club and they called and said that I have two choices: stay and listen to them with thier 'hot guys', or I could leave. I chose the former."

"Good choice."

"Thank you." she smiled at the stranger's approval. "Uhh, what do you do?"

"Ohh, I'm a filmmaker." Mark noticed for the first time tonight that he didn't grab his camera when he ran out the door. He felt kind of naked. "And I kinda work for buzzline." His voice was full of shame as he finished up the last part.

"I'm going to assume you don't like to work for Buzzline." She held a wry smile.

"Good assumption. So where do you work?" As he had finished the question, two people, probably in thier early forties, stormed towards the teenagers. They seemed to belong to the girl, because the mother started to yell at her in spanish. The muscler father was standing silently, glaring at the cowering boy. Mark was amazed at what the mother was saying to her daughter. From the little spanish he knew, taught to him by Mimi, he could tell she was calling her daughter things that shouldn't be repeated.

"Wow." Katie commented after the teenagers were draggged out.

"Yeah." Mark agreed.

"Parents."

"Hate 'em."

"Hate 'em." They both said this at the same moment, resulting in a chukle.

"Why do you hate your parents?" Katie asked innocently.

"I don't know, it's just one of those kind of relationships. Plus, whenever I visit them, they always go on about how I'm not going anywhere with my life, how I never celebrate the Jewish holidays properly, how I'm not married yet. The usual." This caused a small chuckle from Katie. "You?"

"My dad died when I was 10 and my mom got all depressed and stuff and...it was just hard." Katie almost forgot that she'd just met this guy about a half hour ago; Most of her friends didn't even know the full extent of her 'childhood'.

"Wow, I'm sorry." Mark hated his parents, but he'd never wanted them to die.

"It's okay. Uhh," Katie searched for words to stop the oncoming silence. "Did you always live here?"

"No. This was my escape from my parents. I used to live in Scarsdale."

"Oh. Same here. The escape part, not the Scarsdale part. So, uhhhh, what're you're roomates like?'' Katie asked dumbly.

"Well, Collins is a philosopher. He's really smart and he used to be a teacher but he quit because... he wanted to move back." Mark felt bad for lying, but then again he had just met this girl a little less then an hour ago. "And Roger is an aspiring musician." He finished with a touch of pride.

"Hmmm. Would this be the Roger Davis from the old band 'The Well Hungarians'?"

"Yeah, have you seen him?''

"Only a few times, but he was awesome! Too bad he stopped singing. The guy that replaced him sucked! It was like listening to some twelve year old going through puberty!" Both of them laughed at this for a minute.

"I hate to interupt, but, may I take your order?" a waiter asked, both tiredly and sarcasticly.

"Tea, please." Mark replied, almost automatically.

"Just a glass of water, please." After a quick scribble, the waiter walked towards the back of the restaurant.

"So what about your roomies?"

"Ohh, umm, well I've been friends with Jess since third grade, and I met Kailey in sixth. Both of them waitress at a diner on the other side of town. Plus they go clubbing like every other night and end up bringing someone home half the time."

"So what do you do when you get kicked out?"

"Normaly I just wander aimlessly for a while, until I get too tired, then I go back and hope that they're done."

"Wait, you wander the streets of Alphabet City after midnight? Did you ever get mugged?"

''Yes, and no one could mug me if they tried." It came out more arrogant than katie meant it so she covered it up with an embarrassed smile. "Wow, that sounded cocky."

"Oh great queen of not-getting-mugged, please tell me your secrets." Mark bowed forward to emphasize his joke.

"Well, first, if you hear someone following you, act crazy. Like start yelling at yourself or yell random words to the sky, like 'swashbuckling' or 'skytzofranic'. If that doesn't work, kick him in the shins and run." Both of them laughed.

"Does that actually work?" Mark laughed.

"Most of the time."

"What about the rest of the time?"

"Well, I don't mean to tute my own horn, but I could totally take on anyone." She finished this by making mock muscles. Thier laughter was interupted by the arrival of the drinks. For the next two hours, both of them talked about the most random thoughts that crossed thier minds. From the meaning of life to why the person a few tables away was talking to himself, and everything in between. The conversation came to an abrupt halt when Theodore interupted them.

"As much as I'd hate to break up this little happy hour of yours, we're closing and I'd like to go home now." His mouth was shaped like a smile, but his voice was telling them otherwise.

"If you insist." Katie yawned sarcasticly. She glanced at a clock in the corner. "Wow, it's three A.M. already?"

"Wow" The money was laid on the table and they both headed out the door, after Katie bid good night to her distant cousin. He grumbled something in response.

"So, I guess I'll see you around?" Katie wasn't sure how to end this. He'd only met this guy a couple of hours ago. What if this guy was a dirtbag? In her head, she knew he wasn't. She was kind of hoping he'd ask for her number, so she wouldn't seem desperate or anything.

"Uhh, yeah." He answered akwardly. _Ask her for her number!!_ Is what Roger and Collins would both say if they were here. This was going to need a wave of confidence. Actualy, more like a tsunami of confidence. "Uhh, you maybe wanna get together again?" He questioned, insecurely.

"Yeah, sure." They paused for a moment. "Ohh, you probably want my number right? I don't have any paper or anything, so..." She quickly gave him her number and he repeated it inside his head.

"Uhh, so, yeah. Just, uhh, call me tomorrow. Trust me, I have no other plans." She ended in a mock serious tone that received a chuckle from Mark.

"Okay, see ya."

"Toodles."

* * *

As Mark walked into the loft, he didn't notice the absolute silence or complete darkness that would normaly freak him out. He did, however, notice the movement coming from the couch, bringing him out of his 'I just asked out a girl for the first time in like two years' haze.

"Listen, Mark, we're really sorry for that." Came Rogers apologetic voice.

"Yeah, man." Collins low voice chimed in. He paused for a moment. "Where have you been all this time anyways?"

"I was at the Life. I'm going to bed." He knew he should've sounded mad, but he couldn't hide the happiness. He walked into his room and quietly shut the door before either of them could make a guess of why he was so happy. Roger looked from the closed door to the philosopher, hoping for some answers.

"Aw, man. He met a girl." Collins chuckled out.

* * *

When Katie walked into her apartment, no lights were on. Except the light of the TV flickering. Both Jessie and Kailey were on couchs staring tiredly and content at the TV.

"Hey." They greeted Katie at the same time.

"Hey," She greeted them, distractedly. "Uhh, remind me to be mad and moody at you tomorrow. Mmmkay?" She said as she walked backwards into her room, smiling.

Both Kailey and Jess exchanged glances and sprung up.

"Oh my gosh! Who is he?"

"What does he look like?"

"Is he hot?"

"Katie!" Katie walked through her door, now in her pajamas (a white tank top with a pair of thin blue plaid pants), smiling in an excited/flirty way. She hasn't had a girl-talk (about guys) in a long time. Sure those two had had guys, but they never lasted long, so Katie never bothered to get to know them. All of them sat down in the living room, on the floor, in a circle. This was going to be a long, fun night.

Okay!! Third chapter finally done!!!

**REVIEW!!!!!!**--cause I'm not sure about this...

Also, the host was never really given a name (I think :-\), so I just made one up thats kinda easy to make fun of...;-)


End file.
